Bamboozled (2000)

Share this quote on facebook Feed the idiot box. Feed the idiot box.

Share this quote on facebook The mission was accomplished. All of these people left the room thinking they would have real input. I was writing this pilot alone. Myself. Me. Moi.

Share this quote on facebook Myrna Goldfarb: I happen to have a Master's degree in African-American studies.
Pierre Delacroix: So you fucked a nigger in college.

Share this quote on facebook With Bamboozled, Lee takes a look at one of film and television's rarest breeds-the black television executive. His satire is based on the current lack of diversity in Hollywood, where 75 percent of television writers are white. And in most cases, the minority writers at networks are all working on the same show (in 1999, it was found that ABC employed nine black writers-all assigned to the same sitcom). In order to succeed in his position as a black television executive, then, Lee's main character delves back into the history of blacks on screen to revive one of the most popular forms of early entertainment: the Minstrel. And with the Minstrel, of course, comes Blackface-perhaps the most dreaded image in the history of American media.

Share this quote on facebook A: I had more trouble getting this film picked up by a studio than any other film. But that's expected given the content.

Share this quote on facebook Q: Are you worried that there may be public outcry from the black community about the content of the film?

Share this quote on facebook A: I am sure that there will be some criticism, but that has to be expected. The content of the film will raise some uneasy feelings, but by no means am I worried. I actually think that it's great that the film will raise discussion and I don't mind it being the stepping stone to people becoming aware of things that have been forgotten or ignored. There's a lot of ignorance about the history of these images. It is a movie that makes people sit down and talk about what they just saw. I actually think that it needs a second viewing for the audience to understand everything.

Share this quote on facebook Q: So who is the movie supposed to speak to? To black audiences or white audiences? Or do you think that it has a message for everybody?

Share this quote on facebook A: No question about it, it's for everyone to watch. I know that it's painful at times, but we're not making this up. The depths of degradation in cartoons, movies, and television shows, the misrepresentation of a people - it's an American legacy. Not just in television or movies, but in all media.

Share this quote on facebook Q: How did the actors feel about blackening up?

Share this quote on facebook A: They absolutely, absolutely dreaded it. There's no question that they felt it was dehumanizing. Some of the cast and crew weren't familiar with blackface, actually. They didn't know what to feel and I could tell that they were just dumbfounded.

Share this quote on facebook Q: In Bamboozled, you're not only talking about the history of racist media images, but you're also commenting on the state of the current media landscape. There are shows on television today that are the subject of your parody, correct?

Share this quote on facebook A: There are plenty, and we all know what those shows are. My film is supposed to reflect that; it is an indictment of the people who write and accept those shows, because we know that they exist today. It also has to do with the $1 million question: What is black? It is a never-ending quest for who we are, and some people are still in search of that.
Spike Lee, ibid.

Share this quote on facebook Spike Lee, ibid.

Share this quote on facebook Gano Grills as "Double Blak"